There For You
by Tobyk947
Summary: Shepard has begun restarting her life after being dead for two years. Everyone had mourned her death and now seemed to resent she was back. She was protecting the universe from a new threat,the Collectors, but who would protect her against her friends?
1. Chapter 1

There for You

Chapter One: A New Beginning

She had died. A routine mission that had ended with her blown up, suffocated and spaced. Her corpse had ended up with Cerberus, a pro-human organization. Some people labeled them terrorists, some called them people of action that when faced with a universal threat would do something about it instead of letting themselves be bogged down by bureaucracy.

Through billions of dollars and two years of surgeries she was brought back to life via the Lazarus Project. It's not that she wasn't grateful… Shepard sighed, pushing her indignant red curly hair out of her face for the umpteenth time—it had grown a lot in two years and she was not used to it yet, though it only fell to her shoulders. Anyway, it hardly mattered right now how she had come back, she was alive and had some giant evil machines' asses to kick. For now, that was enough.

She'd met the Cerberus boss earlier—the Illusive Man—the one who had paid for her to pumped full fun drugs and then sent her on her merry way to free mankind and the universe from giant four eyed insect alien things—the Collectors, not batarians. The Illusive Man given her back her old pilot Jeff "Joker" Moreau and a new leather-seated and AI saddled Normandy—probably just trying to soften her up. Damn if it wasn't working. Shepard stared up at the ceiling of her luxurious cabin—listening to the sounds of rain from her stereo. Back on Mindoir it hadn't rained all that often, probably once or twice every couple of months but when it did—it was breathtaking. And the next day, the air would feel fresh and clean and tiny wild flowers would burst from the ground, filling the air with a light, pure scent. Then it was attacked… her home, family and friends—vanished under ash and fire. Surviving, she'd gotten onto a passing Alliance patrol and never looked back.

Shepard and her team had just got off Freedom's Progress. What a mess that had been.

"What's our plan, Shepard?" the woman in the white cat suit, Miranda, asked her. Shepard sighed, moving a hand through her hair. "Well, everyone's gone, right? So this will mostly be an intel drop but as I can hardly go anywhere without being shot at—" She waited for a grin, a nod in agreement—nothing but blanks stares. "Be on your guard. We'll see when we get there." Damn, she knew she told bad jokes but at least her old team was polite enough to crack a smile. Tough crowd.

Upon landing, Shepard started poking around. There were even deposits of minerals lying around and spare parts—easy money. "I can't believe I actually had to dig for this crap before. People just leave it lying around!" Sticking her head into buildings, she stilled when she heard voices. Signaling to her team, she punched the door and stood out of the way as it opened. Peering inside she recognized the one figure. "Tali!" Shepard exclaimed, surprised. She was less surprised when the general Tali'Zorah was with shoved a gun in Shepard's face. Well, she couldn't go anywhere without being shot at or apparently, she amended, have a gun shoved in her face. "Shepard, is that really you? Prazza, what the hell? Put your weapon away."

"With your old C.O. working for Cerberus? Unlikely," he sneered at Shepard and her current team.

"Okay—" she blinked at the cold reception. Shepard had expected a hand shake or a hug from Tali, but she seemed frazzled and with the whole wearing-insulated-suits-because-our-immune-systems-suck-society might've had something to do with it. Or the fact that she had come back from the dead. "What's up with you guys hating on Cerberus?"

Apparently a fugitive Cerberus wanted had hid on a flotilla and to get the fugitive back, Cerberus shot up the place. Well shit, they certainly lacked tact. Miranda did not remember the events happening that way… Shepard sighed, tired of having to deal with petty arguments already. How long had she'd been awake now? Twelve hours, if that. "What are you guys doing here anyway?" she asked the quarians.

"Veetor, a quarian, was on his pilgrimage was here. We saw him run into a warehouse when we arrived. He has a suit rupture and will need medical care. He's reprogramed the mecs—" Of course he had because I hadn't been shot at yet. "We can go together, as a team—"

But Prazza and his lieutenants had already scrambled away—trying to find Veetor first, not believing Shepard wouldn't hand Veetor over to the Illusive Man at the first chance she got. "Well, let's go before they get killed." she sighed. By the time Shepard, her team and Tali got to them, they'd been crushed by a huge mec with a shield. Biotics easily shredded the heavy mec like tin foil, causing it to explode. "I'll check on my team, go find Veetor."

Shepard had found Veetor, returned him to Tali after being promised to send the footage of the Collectors. Tali declined re-joining the dream team—she had her own stuff to deal with apparently.

Shepard turn on her side, burrowing into her blankets. She flexed her hand in front of her face, the blue glow from her fish tank casting light over her skin. Everything was just so different this time around, surrounded by strangers and not a single friend in the universe by her side.

...

A/N:

I'm likely to always have an author's note at the end. If you don't like it, you can skip it.

Here, I'll try to explain some things that I may have done a bad job at trying to explain in the 's that, as well as trivia, side notes and anything else. (Maybe tiny hints for the next chapters mwah ha ha.) If you still don't understand, shoot me a review and I'll try to explain in the next upload. If it's something I all ready explained, I'll tell you and send a link to the chapter where I explained it.

I don't tend to upload regularly, sorry. I'll have a lot of free time this summer so at least I'll try not to leave you hanging. This may turn out…interesting as I usually don't do 3rd person POV.

Leave a review—reviews are love.

This story is much different from my draft, so.. we'll see where it goes.

Hint for later Chapters: It's pronounced "An-na-lee-zee-ah" for Analisia.

Magic from my brain cells. enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**There for You**

Shepard (F) and Vakarian fanfic. He even shows up in this chapter, go me.

Only two f bombs in this chapter, making it, in America, technically still PG13. If anyone is offended, please message me and I will change the rating on this story.

Chapter Two: Archangel and Enemies

Bleary eyed, Shepard practically had to pry her eyes open before she could blink and a fowl taste in her mouth lingered. She tossed her feet over the side of her bed and stood, stretching. She pulled the bed sheets back into place and walked to the other side, fixing it so either side was symmetrical. Having slept in a t-shirt and black underwear she did a light workout routine before she went in her bathroom to brush her teeth. After cleaning the sink of toothpaste and spit, Shepard eyed her skin suspiciously in the mirror, pulling at it to see the red glow of the implants in her face.

"Shepard!" Joker's voice screaming her name was the last thing she heard—besides the hissing of a hose when it disconnected from her suit, the oxygen escaping and leaving her to struggle and suffocate in the cold expanse of space—but not before she was sucked into the nearby planet's atmosphere. She slammed a fist on her sink, the noise startling her. Fleeing the bathroom and muttering she'd take a shower later, she quickly got dressed and headed down one floor to the CIC and galaxy map.

After introducing herself to Yeoman Kelly Chambers—Shepard flipped through her private messages uninterestedly. "Stupid, stupid, stupid—" It's not like they were deleted—she could just skim through the archives later if she missed anything really important. Her crew though, specifically Kelly, eyed her like she was crazy. The Illusive Man wasn't someone you just blew off, even if it was just a private message. "Ugh… so dull!" Like the Illusive Man had brought her back to life just to bore her to death. "Where are the dossiers?" Shepard muttered to herself, poking around the menu provided. She skimmed through them pretty quickly. "We're right outside of Omega, so these three are the closest—The Professor, The Veteran and Archangel. EDI, tell Miranda and Jacob to meet me by the airlock ASAP. We're docking."

…

"Hey, you Zaeed?" Shepard called across the way—some old fart was beating up a batarian. It had vaguely pleaded for help as Zaeed responded in the affirmative—she'd nearly laughed. If the batarian knew who she was and what his people had done to her home when she was young… grudges weren't typically her thing—be the bigger man and all that—but what was a better revenge than kicking someone when they were down? Other than being the one to put them there, of course. Zaeed turned around and she was struck by two mismatched eyes staring at her own violet ones, assessing her. He looked like he'd gotten half his face blown off and had someone else's face put there which, she found out later, was pretty much what had happened. "Our ship's called the Normandy. She's currently docked—" She glanced over her shoulder in the direction she had just come from and gestured "—that way." Directions weren't her thing.

Zaeed eyed Shepard and her team and mentioned warily, "I picked up a mission a little while back, just before I signed on with Cerberus—" She held out a hand for a handshake, effectively silencing him. "I'll make sure it gets done." They shook on it and as he left she asked pointing to her own neck where Zaeed's tattoo was, "Did you used to be a part of the Blue Suns?" A marine she'd known somewhat well had a similar mark; the same marine that had been by her side on Akuze. "Had" because he'd been devoured by a giant thresher maw that day. Zaeed's face had flicked with surprise as he had raised his hand to his neck in an action mirroring hers. He gave a half-grin and replied, "Something like that. I'll be locked and loaded the next time you're ready to get some killing done."

Directly after Zaeed left to claim his bounty, Shepard was accosted by a salarian who seemed a bit shifty but was quickly waved away by a batarian. Some chick named Aria wanted to see her—the place gave off the vibe that if Shepard had refused the next time the Illusive Man saw her there wouldn't be anything to bring back to life. Shepard got around to seeing Aria, after charming the shopkeepers into giving her discounts, seeing the shops and getting an item the engineers had requested. "You, human, are a blight!" she been yelled at by some sort of prophet. She flipped him off and went to go talk to Aria, an asari with white facial markings.. the first asari Shepard had seen that hadn't shot at her since she'd come from back to the landing of the living. As Aria's turian and batarian guards drew their guns, Shepard quickly withdrew the assessment. The almost-but-not-quite familiar face of the turian caused Shepard to draw a silent, painful breath. She'd left many behind when she had died… But now was not the time to dwell.

"…Queen, if you're feeling dramatic," Aria had gone on a tangent Shepard was busy pretending to not ignore. "Omega has one rule. Don't fuck with Aria."

"Simple. I like it," Shepard said easily, taking a seat. Shepard asked about Archangel and Mordin Solus. Mordin was in the quarantine zone, close to where Shepard had been previously. "He's likely to heal you as he is to shoot you. I like that." Apparently this asari was into some kink. Shepard then asked about Archangel—some vigilante who had all three main gang players gunning for him. "Just my type of guy," Shepard smoothly crossed her legs, catching Aria's gaze and holding it. The asari laughed. "Well, aren't you interesting? They have him cornered, but well… They've set up a room for recruiting just across the bar. I'm sure they'll sign you up."

"I appreciate the help. I should go." Shepard stood. "We'll see if you still feel the same when the mercs realize you're there to help," Aria drawled coolly. Shepard nodded, and brushed past Jacob and Miranda on the way to the recruiter.

…

Attempting to shake off fatigue, Garrus adjusted his sight as he popped another heat sink. "Archangel" the locals had dubbed him—he sighed heavily. Not that he minded, but in truth he considered it an embellished title. He wasn't doing much at all—just messing some things up for some pretty bad people. He had been hitting mercs hard with a team, one he picked up after he was done with the Citadel's "bureaucratic bullshit"—he wasn't even sure what a bull was, but an old friend had often uttered the phrase—an old, dead friend. He'd left the Normandy after the fight with Sovereign, going back to C-Sec, maybe consider Spectre training—that old friend had supported him in doing so, being a spectre herself. But she was gone, as well as his team he had pulled together… it was just him now. He patted his helmet with a fist, scolding himself. _Keep your head in the game._ Unfortunately, that was getting more difficult as he was going on being awake 42 hours and he could hardly call a time-out for a lunch break. He downed a dextro energy bar, tossing the wrapper aside carelessly. It tasted like bark—not that he'd ever had the pleasure—and it settled uneasily in his stomach. He fired another shot, dropping a merc in front of a red-haired female, who was looking over a data pad. Was she insane? She was meters away from any cover and even a rookie sniper could've dropped her... Garrus's heart stuttered as his brain recognized the familiar face. Analisia J Shepard, the dead spectre in question—rather, the spectre he had been told was dead. He wouldn't have believed it if the helmsman himself hadn't told him he'd seen first-hand the spectre getting spaced. Growling, Garrus fired a concussive shot somewhere to the left of her face. _That should teach her._ It brought down her shields and got her moving—fiery violet eyes, glowing blue with biotics turned and faced him as she fell into a side room.

He continued the assault on the mercs firing at him, no need to lose focus now that a friendly face was so close. It would be a pity if he died before he got to talk to her again. Grinning, he dropped two more mercs.

Suddenly there was a flood of armored men—the mercs were up to something. He'd successfully disabled their gunship hours earlier, apparently they were trying for another tactic. Whatever it was, it was largely unsuccessful as he picked off the first few and Shepard headed up the rear, shredding mercs with her biotics. Two minutes later and his door flicked green, Shepard and her team coming up, guns drawn.

"The calvary has arrived!" Shepard announced grinning, her hair frizzled around her face—half out of the restraint she'd put it in. She'd received a cut on her lower lip—it looked like it was going to bruise. With most of the mercs taken care of with Shepard's most recent assault, Garrus lowered his gun, took off his helmet and sat down. He hadn't realized how tired he'd been until he put up his feet. "Garrus!" she exclaimed affectionately, walking closer to him.

"Shepard," he answered easily in reply, though more guarded. "I thought you were dead."

"What are you doing here?" she shrugged off the not-quite-a-question of being dead. He almost questioned it, but was too tired. "Just keeping my skills sharp. It's nice to see a friendly face."

"Yeah, I felt a shot from you—thanks." Garrus tilted his head, he'd heard the slight change in pitch in her voice, perhaps implying that she was not thankful. She laughed, so in any case she hadn't taken offense. He hadn't actually shot her, near her really… Garrus cleared his throat. "A concussive round only. The mercs might've gotten suspicious—" Just because he hadn't thought of it until now didn't make it any less true. Shepard made a noise like she didn't quite believe him.

"If I wanted to do more than take your shields down, I would've done it." He replied—Shepard made another noise, maybe to say something else, when an explosion went off followed by an alarm.

"The hell…?"

"They've breached the lower levels. Well, they had to start using their brains sometime. Shepard—"

She nodded. "I'll get down there and take care of it. I should leave one of my team with you, go half and half. We'll do boys and girls, Jacob stay with Garrus and keep him safe."

"Will do Commander," he nodded.

Garrus gave quick directions to where to go and what to do—locking some shutter doors and beating away the bad guys didn't seem too difficult to Shepard.

"Miranda, you're with me. Be right back," Shepard winked, saluted them and took off. After blasting away some vorcha, Shepard slammed the button to last door and it locked, closed. Despite running, Garm—krogan leader of the Blood Pack—beat Shepard to back door. She used it to her advantage, taking out a vorcha with a head shot. She maneuvered around Garm, shooting the krogans who got near the door Garrus was behind. Her heart beating wildly in her chest, her hands fumbled as she popped another heat sink. She was empty and there was a crazy pissed krogan charging her. Her eyes flaring blue she decided to charge right back—her biotics ripped Garm apart like tissue paper.

"Shepard, they've stopped. Come find me," Garrus told her over the comm. She joined up with him, Miranda followed after sweeping the base.

"Only the Blue Suns are left now—we could make a break for it…" Then suddenly an airship blasted through the front window. Shepard and her team scattered, running for cover. Returning fire, Shepard launched warp several times to shred the already weakened shield of the gun ship. Sighing out of annoyance, Shepard pulled out her rocket launcher. "Fore!" Shepard yelled, firing it. Hitting the right wing, the battleship plummeted from the sky—but not before launching a rocket into the base, directly hitting Garrus, who had stood up. He went flying and landed with a sickening thud.

Shepard's brain had trouble understanding, but she flew to Garrus's side, trusting Miranda and Jacob to finish the last of the lingering mercs. "Fucking hell," Shepard hissed, looking at the damage. Blue blood covered Garrus, the floor and the wall like splattered paint. "Damn you, stupid turian—always copying me. Shit…please, please don't die." Shepard tried to stay calm, stay upright as her vision burned blue and blurred. "Get a team ready, we're going to need Chakwas right away." _You're in charge now, lock it down_ the logical part of her brain hissed_._ Despite the sentiment, a scream ripped from Shepard's throat and there was only darkness.

…

Shepard looked up at a white ceiling in the Medbay. "Well, fuck." Her head throbbed in protest as she looked around. She saw she was hooked up to an IV. So much for "locking it down"—she was in the equivalent of a flying space hospital. Her throat felt dry and her lips cracked, she ran fingers over her bruised lip.

"How you holding up?" Chakwas asked Shepard, looking over a datapad.

"Are you kidding me? I've had worse hangovers," Shepard joked, lying down. She'd never admit it aloud, but if she tried to sit up she would probably pass out. "Is Garrus okay?"

"He took a pretty bad hit—"

"Well, how well is he doing for taking a space rocket to the face?" asked Shepard impatiently. Chakwas made a face at her, annoyed for being interrupted. "He's got some facial scarring. But with cybernetics and reconstructive procedures, he should be up on his feet soon and have full functionality. There's something else I need to tell you, Shepard—"

Just then, Shepard's favorite turian walked into the Medbay. "Garrus! I saw you get messed up by that rocket, I wanna see the doc's handiwork." Shepard reached up, her hand just reaching the damage on his suit. Garrus picked the hairband out of Shepard's hair and handed it to her. "No one would hand me a mirror."

"Eh, just slap some face paint on it, nobody'll be able to tell the difference," Shepard commented off hand.

"Thanks Shepard," Garrus answered, lightly chucking. " Ow shit, don't make me laugh." He looked over Shepard appraisingly. "How are you holding up?" He thumbed over the bruise on her face before she brushed his hand with her own. "All right. A cheap shot from a merc." She explained the cut on her face. "It's cool, I'm pretty sure that's a piece of his lung," she gestured to red splattered tissue on her suit.

Chakwas cleared her throat and Garrus took his hand away. "As I was saying, there is something I need to tell you Shepard. Actually, it's good you're here Garrus because this involves you too." Chakwas looked at both of them. "I doubt you meant to Shepard, but when Garrus became injured, your biotics flared. Maybe it had something to do with your implants…" Shepard sat up, with some help. "What does that mean?" Interestingly, Garrus kept holding her up, despite that Shepard shifted so he didn't have to. Leaning over the metal bed Shepard eyed the floor suspiciously, like it might rush up to abuse her some more.

"It means when Garrus's heart stopped beating, your biotics restarted it."

Shepard smirked, lightly smacking his battered suit with the back of her hand. "Not the first time I've saved your ass, Dino-Man." "Crazy human," he quipped back. "I'm honored, there wasn't even a 'stupid' in there," Shepard touched her heart, like she was sincerely flattered. "It's implied," he answered easily. Shepard turned her attention back towards Chakwas. "So… biotics restarted his heart, gotcha—paying attention. Does that mean he's gonna grow a second head or hair…?"

"We're not sure—" Shepard hopped off the table, after popping out her IV. "Okie dokie then, experimentation time." She held out her hand, biotics flaring. She put her hands in front of her to turn her biotics into a ball—like a smaller, less harmful version of singularity. "You feel any different?" she asked Garrus. He held out his hands, in a mimicry of hers. After a moment he gripped his hands into fists and put them by his side. "No. Sorry to disappoint," his voice was tight as Shepard put her hands down, and the biotics dispersed.

"Sorry doc, guess Garrus gets to miss out on his chance to be a guinea pig." Dr. Chakwas nodded. "Still. Come to see me right away if that changes." He nodded, turning to Shepard. "I'm fit for duty as soon as you need me, Shepard. I'll be in the forward battery and see what I can do there." He left abruptly.

There was silence and Shepard spoke, "I push people's buttons too easily, I think." As if an explanation for Garrus's quick retreat. "It's just another upside of my sparkling personality. I'll see you at dinner then?" it was a rhetorical question because Shepard left as her eyes started to sting.

She gave Garrus some alone time, though she desperately wanted to talk to him. Instead she went over the other dossiers before dinner. Mordin Solus, the salarian scientist, was next to be picked up—as soon as she stopped moping enough to go.

….

"It builds friendships and trust between crew members and I like doing it, that's why," Shepard snapped at Joker—her pilot who sat in the cockpit and who was also currently poo-pooing joining dinner. "And anyway, I never said it was mandatory. Mess Sergeant Gardner has better things to do then cook fifty individual meals. I merely suggested we all eat at the same time and he just multiplies recipes to save his own time and energy."

"In between what—unclogging toilets and licking your boots? It's not like he ever leaves the ship," Joker complained. "Look here, Mister," Shepard snapped, losing her patience. "You're about to find out whether your cartilage is as fragile as your bones because I am going to box your ears—"

Kelly Chambers tentatively knocked on the wall, "Ma'am, you have a new message at your private terminal and… uh, dinner is ready." Shepard straightened, smiling at Kelly easily. "I'll be right there."

At dinner, which the entire crew attended, including Joker, Shepard made an impromptu speech to keep up morale as well as crack a few bad jokes some of the crew laughed at. It was light-hearted and fun but soon most everyone retired to bed, leaving only a few to a game of cards. "Ha-ha. I win your hat," Shepard laughed, taking the prized possession off of Joker and putting it on. She'd won a lollipop earlier that was still in her mouth. He scowled, "That's the real reason you blackmailed me into dinner," She laughed some more.

"Tell us Shepard… did you actually die?" a crew member asked. Joker stilled and the room became silent. "The first Normandy was a beauty—Alliance made it alongside the turians and it had a state-of-the-art stealth system. On the last mission on the old Normandy my crew and I were sent out to look for geth. Ships had been going missing, that sort of thing. We were ambushed. The Normandy was blasted into itty bitty pieces by an unidentified starship. I stayed, trying to get out as many people as I could... and got spaced in the process."

"You stayed to get me out of the cockpit. You died saving my life," Joker said, standing up. "This is why I hate dinner." Shepard stood up too. "You don't hate dinner, Bones. Dinner ended hours ago. You hate cards because you suck at it. Off to bed with all o' ya," Shepard kept her voice light and escorted Joker to the elevator, sticking his hat back on his head. "Making nicey-nice with the AI?" she asked lightly, stepping in the elevator after Joker. He was silent for a moment, and then turned on me.

"You—" Joker's voice was sharp, and angry. "That was a very disrespectful comment. You could've told that guy off, shot him or fried him with your biotics. He had no reason to ask you that."

Shepard sighed. "Sadly, not everything can be solved with violence. Most people learn that the hard way. It was better to get it out now and hopefully diminish any possible rumors about me being some kind of zombie that's gonna snap and consume all your brains."

He sighed, unsatisfied with her answer. He got off at the CIC and left Shepard alone in the dark and suddenly very large elevator. Upon facing the giant expanse of her empty cabin, Shepard quickly walked over to her bed. She picked up and kidnapped a pillow, turned around and went back down the elevator.

…

Author's Note: Don't have too much to say. This is technically a double up-load because I uploaded it and then I was like, "crap, forgot to fix it~"

Anywhosies, this chapter was orginally named "Angels and Enemies". But I changed it. It also was going to be about four pages longer. But I decided to save it for next week. Almost on time for this week. I only missed my dead line by about seven hours. My bad.

I look over each chapter a total of about four times in full, from start to finish after I decide I'm "done". It gets loaded on to DeviantArt first because well, pretty pictures. But I always say more here. Lucky you!

Message and/or kindly leave a review. Questions/comments/etc... much love 3


	3. Chapter 3

**There For You**

FemShep/Garrus Vakarian fanfic.

Chapter Three: None Left Behind

...

"_Analisia Jane Shepard!" her mother called her. "I told you to clean up your things several times now. Your father will have a fit... Are you even listening to me?"_

"_Yeah, I'll be right there—" her sixteen-year old self replied. There were funny shapes in the sky—Shepard shielded her eyes, trying to see past the sun. Suddenly a shape was coming straight for the colony, lots of other shapes quickly joined the first and someone let out a scream—multiple projectiles slammed into the ground and exploded. One blast launched Shepard away from her mother and into flaming storage crates, an occurrence that would save her life. The west camp, where Shepard grew up and her family and friends resided, was annihilated within a few moments. Shepard would wake with severe burns, being saved and treated kindly by an Alliance patrol…_

_..._

"_Shepard's been hit!" Kaidan and Garrus fell back as Shepard sprawled on the ground, searching blindly for a lost weapon. The helplessness of it all was threatening to drown her, even after the day she vowed she'd never be helpless again—the day she'd been unable to help anyone she'd loved from the batarians. She was bleeding from at least six places as Garrus grabbed her by her shoulders and dragged her behind some storage bins that had miraculous survived the barrage of bullets. Kaidan provided cover fire as Garrus covered her with medi-gel._

"_Do we really have to get this asari chick? I mean maybe she's better off here," Kaidan half-joked, reloading his last heat sink. Kaidan's words broke through Shepard's shock—they were on Therum for a reason—not for her to start rehashing things that were best left in the past. She'd run out of steam a while ago and used up her last heat sink finishing off a geth hopper. She knew while Garrus hadn't said anything, he was low on heat sinks as well—she could see it in the grim set of his mouth and eyes. Garrus shot Kaidan a dirty look as Shepard forced herself into sitting position. "No giving up yet soldier. There's only one colossus left, right?" He nodded. "Well, I was gonna save it for a special occasion but I suppose now will have to do. Garrus, would you please hand me my rocket launcher?" He did and Shepard used it to stand up. "Okay, I'm gonna fire this and when it collapses to repair itself we're gonna to run like hell." _

"_Wha—!"Kaidan exclaimed as Shepard ran, dodging the Colossus' lasers. Garrus was right behind her as Kaidan sprinted to catch up. In the distance, the air crackled with Shepard's mindless laughter. _

"Commander—" the ship shook and Shepard was jostled awake. She looked up to see Dr. Chakwas at her shoulder. "I'd like to speak with you, when you have a moment," Chakwas informed her and then headed back to her office. Shepard had been asleep… dreaming, or in her case, remembering. She peered around with sleepy eyes. Garrus was at the table at Shepard's right, drinking dextro coffee and looking over a data pad. Most of the crew was oddly scarce. "Morning," Shepard greeted him, stretching. He nodded in greeting back, not taking his eyes off the data pad. She not-so stealthily scooted closer to peer at it too. It was the Normandy's weapons itinerary—something she'd already skimmed.

"Did you make a list for all the things that we want and/or need when we go to the Citadel?" she asked Garrus, moving to sit on top of the table. "Scopes or weapon upgrades…? I think armor should be in the budget too," she added, eyeing the turian's scorched and bullet-ridden armor. "Spices too please!" Mess Sergeant Gardner piped up from the kitchen. Shepard waved in acknowledgement and looked around at the almost empty mess hall again.

"Where the hell is everyone?" she asked, bewildered.

"Did you sleep down here most of the night?" Garrus asked her, regarding her softly. As if he should pity or worry about her. "Maybe," she snapped, irritated. It was her ship, she'd sleep on top of the damn drive core if she wanted to. She told Garrus so and he laughed. "Never mind that even you probably wouldn't survive that—what's wrong with your cabin?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. I'm exercising my right to do what I want on _my_ ship," Shepard told him haughtily.

He raised an eyebrow, "That's bullshit, Shep—" Shepard sat up straighter as two crew members emerged from their quarters and stormed the mess hall. A dark skinned, dark haired male tried to keep a blonde, blue eyed crew member under wraps. Shepard had recognized the two crew members from the original Normandy—Abishek Pakti and Meritine Hayfield, respectively.

"Commander—" a blonde woman ripped her arm out of the grip of the dark skinned, dark haired male that stood behind her. "Pakti here said that two years that you were gone, you were dead."

"Yes, I was." Shepard answered easily.

"I—I understand. Thank you, Commander." She turned around abruptly and walked away.

Shepard turned back to Garrus with a knowing grin. "Why Vakarian, I didn't even know you knew what a bull was,"

...

"You don't have a grenade launcher lady, get lost." The turian guard turned to Shepard and called out good luck as the doors closed behind her and her squad—Jacob and Miranda. Blasting some Blue Suns with warp Shepard leaned down to talk to an injured batarian. He was all "the plague hurts" and "human are scum" until she forced a medi-gel on him.

"Y-You saved me," astounded, he got to his feet. "You are… an angel." It was Shepard's turn to be stunned into silence. "You've been hanging around humans too long. I'm gonna go get the doctor and let him know you're here, try to get someone to you. Try not to die in the meantime," Shepard advised.

They continued onwards until Shepard heard a distinctive smothered cough behind the group. Not wanting to alarm Miranda or Jacob, Shepard doubled back and pointed a gun in the offender's face.

"You're a moron, you know that?" she informed Garrus. "Also, you need a lesson in stealth. No offence but you suck." Shepard may have lowered her weapon, but she was still thinking about shooting him. He coughed again and laughed. "Yeah, cause you're a real infiltrator yourself."

"I can complete missions by myself you know," Shepard told him. "I can't believe you followed us here. What is wrong with you? Not that I don't appreciate you, but I knew we were going into a plague zone that kills _aliens_. That's why I brought Miranda and Jacob along,"

"No," Garrus corrected, his voice a little harsh. "You brought Cerberus along. Terrorists that in the past have given us more than a few scars. No offence Shep, but the only person I trust at your six is me."

"God, you're a stubborn bastard. Fine… you can come! But only because it's too late to send you back now. Try not to slow us down." Shepard snapped, relenting. She stalked away before she got even more angry and just as quickly swirled around and marched back to him, fiddling with her omni-tool. "Here's all the medi-gel we have—" Shepard slathered some all over him, a motion similar to something she'd done a thousand times before "—now try really hard not to die, or else I'll have Cerberus bring you back as the first fish to go in my aquarium. You feel me?" She slapped the unscarred side of his face amicably.

"You would've done the same for me, Shepard." He told her, breathing a little less heavy. "Whatever." She snapped back, still steaming. "Move out,"

Jacob smirked and Miranda looked slightly shocked that Garrus had appeared behind Shepard when she returned. "I do believe you've all met before," she said, her only way of introduction or explanation. Miranda followed Shepard and Jacob hung back to talk to Garrus.

When the ladies were out of ear-shot, Jacob nodded at Garrus. "So… you and the Commander, huh?" He waggled his eyebrows mischievously at the turian. Garrus just looked at the human, dumbfounded. "What?"

"Officer Vakarian followed you here?" Miranda asked, incredulous. "Isn't that direct opposition of orders?" Shepard sighed. "Technically I never told him he couldn't come, I just never brought him along." Miranda stared at Shepard. "It's insubordination, at the very least!"

Shepard wheeled around to snap at Miranda, her temper flaring. "Thank you for your input, Ms. Lawson. However, I do not need your instruction on how I must discipline my own crew. Officer Vakarian was in the right to make a decision to do what's best for this mission. I specifically pick my crew based on their ability to make their own decisions, not just blindly do whatever I tell them." Miranda was silent.

After fighting a large chunk of Blue Suns vorcha and turning around a corner Shepard, with a sigh of relief, found a direction sign for the clinic. She checked on Garrus again, who normally would've swatted her hands away but was too exhausted. Tossing one of his arms over her shoulder, she practically half-dragged him to the salarian doctor. "Please, please save my friend," she asked, nearly collapsing herself. Garrus typically ran about ten degrees hotter than Shepard's at his normal temperature—with a fever and weighing a frak ton it was one hell of a workout.

Mordin Solus gave Garrus the cure, boosting his immune system with a super antibiotic. He grilled them a bit about Cerberus and their mission and told them about the cure and his missing assistant, Daniel, before the air supply cut out suddenly. "There are supplies in the other room. Grab them quickly before you go, sometime." Shepard nodded and walked over, Garrus followed her into the other room. She turned, facing him. "How are you doing?" He nodded. "Much better—" Shepard hit Garrus on the head with the bottom of her gun. "You're a huge moron, you know that? I should make you stay here and babysit Solus! Or should I should I say have him babysit you? You almost died, you fat, metal-headed bird brain! I am unbelievably angry with you but right now we don't have time. Gear up, we're moving out in two minutes."

Shepard stewed in her anger, taking her normal position in front of the group. Without breaking a sweat Shepard gunned down pretty much everything, leaving few for the others. She'd glared at them, daring them to say something. Some stupid vorcha professed that they were working for the Collectors and suffocating everyone was somehow going to help. "Won't you die too?" Shepard asked, confused. But maybe the vorcha weren't too smart. "Commander, the vorcha don't need oxygen to live." Miranda explained from behind cover.

"Are you serious? Those drooling stringy pus-filled things don't even need air? Are you kidding me?" Shepard gave a horrified look to Miranda. The vorcha went down—scoped and dropped. "Commander, you might want to duck, being directly in the line of fire and all that," Garrus told her through their comm. "Aye aye," she answered, ducking behind a storage crate and rapid-fired biotics at every enemy in her line of sight. Slamming the cure Mordin gave her into the machine, it roared to life. "Great. Now we have to go find the doctor's assistant."

The batarian gasped for air as Shepard's gun came in contact with its throat as she grabbed the assistant Daniel and tossed him behind her. "Piss off, all of you. Enjoy your new leases on life. Here's a novel idea—try not to waste it on killing others. Maybe then I won't come back to stick a bullet in you."

...

"The shuttle only seats three," Jacob informed the group quietly. "I'll stay with Mordin awhile. You three go first. We're right behind you." Shepard saluted them as they left and boarded and went to go bug people who were busy.

* * *

Author's Note: Please leave a comment/review. I actually have planned what I want to for the next chapter! This is amazing as I'm 90% make-things-up-as-I-go-along person. sometimes its beautiful! mostly I have to drag through the sucking bit though.

Battlestar/other reference!

Yeah there really is no sexy slathering when it comes to omni-gel but.. meh.

Original title was "My fish has a Visor" but i thought it would be too comical. Maybe the next chapter 3

This week's chapter title came from the fact that the first time I played paragon through I'd forgot to look for Daniel :( You can still somehow can complete the mission but you can't goback to get him if you forget. So i made up for it here.

Well, I'm exhausted. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


	4. Hiatus

Hiatus

I know, I'm only like three weeks into my fanfic, but I just heard back from an internship I applied for, so that's what I'll be doing in June. I'll also be moving in August so for now my fanfic There For You is going on a back burner for a bit. I'll return to it when everything settles down on my end.

So thank you, everyone who has read, reviewed, commented and/or supported me. I feel really bad about putting it to the side and I'll get back to it as soon as possible. I want to do the story justice and for me to do it justice and not just waste my time or yours, I'm going to wait until I have the time and energy to put into it.

Again, thank you.

~Toby


End file.
